Off-Norm Hams

WHAT ARE NON-STANDARD HAMS OR SHOULDERS? 

The first thing is to tell you what the " jamón ibérico quality standard" is.

In October 2001, RD 1083/2001 was approved with the quality standard of the ibérico whose objective was to define the quality and labelling characteristics of jamón ibérico, paleta ibérica and lomo ibérico.

REGULATIONS OF JAMÓN IBÉRICO 

All legislation advances and adapts to the development of the needs of society. For this reason, from 2001 to 2007, several ministerial orders were approved for its implementation, causing a situation of regulatory dispersion. This made it advisable to compile the texts in a new quality standard of the ibérico in RD 1469/2007.

Together with this regulation, the Ibérico Bureau was constituted to monitor it. After years of work, it is concluded that there is a wide lack of knowledge of jamón ibérico on the part of consumers. In addition, an excessive variety of classification on the labels of Iberian hams incited a certain picaresque and caused confusion among consumers.

Conclusion: the new regulation of ibérico 2014 was born, i.e. R.D. 4/2014 which establishes, among other things, the identification label of the jamón ibérico.

This R.D. is the last regulation that exists, there is no regulation from jamón ibérico 2016 or a standard ibérico 2017. There have been regulatory developments but no new standard.

Making jamón ibérico is not like producing screws. Even if a farmer breeds an entire herd in the same way, there will always be an animal that, for the reasons indicated below, will not meet the requirements set by the regulation at the time of slaughter.

HAM AND PALETA OUT OF THE NORM

There is also the circumstance of a piece that in "blood", that is, when it leaves the slaughterhouse, is within the norm of the ibérico but the loss during the curing process has been greater than expected. When it goes on sale it does not reach the minimum weight and therefore loses its classification of jamón ibérico, it is a ham out of standard.

These and other circumstances are giving rise to the so-called out-of-norm ham in all production facilities and among all livestock farms.

We want to offer you these offers of hams that do not have the denomination of ibérico because they did not reach the certification of the R.D.4/2014 standard of the ibérico.

We guarantee that without being products covered by the ibérico standard, they do enjoy great quality and flavor. Obviously, their price is lower than the products covered by the ibérico standard. You can find them in Ibericomio.es with the following tag:

WHAT REQUIREMENT DID THESE HAMS NOT MEET TO NOT BE ABLE TO BE CALLED IBERIAN?

1. The animal did not reach the minimum carcass weight of 115kg or 108kg in the case of 100% Iberian animals.
2. The animal has been feeding on acorns, but has not gained enough weight with that diet - The minimum replacement in the montanera must be 46 kg, for more than 60 days
3. The animal, for whatever reason, was slaughtered before the minimum age of 14 months in the case of bellota and 10 months in the cebo.
4. The entry of BELLOTA animals into the montanera was not carried out on the established dates (from October 1 to December 15) or their slaughter was carried out outside the legally established period (from December 15 to March 31)

These offers of hams and shoulders can NOT be called Iberian.

At ibericomio.es you can buy these ham offers because we know the manufacturers of Iberian products and we have visited their facilities. Before offering you these offers of hams, we have required the traceability of these pieces and we have tested different batches. With all this, we guarantee that without being hams covered by the ibérico standard, they do enjoy a very high quality. Obviously, their price is lower than the products covered by the ibérico rule. We encourage you to buy these offers of hams with all the guarantees of Ibericomio. Even so, if you are one of the most demanding and want it to be backed by the ibérico standard, you can see the bellota jamón ibérico catalog  that we have in our online store.

Frequently asked questions about Off-Norm Hams